Soldier Record

William "Croppy" Sullivan joined up in 1896 at Woolwich, whilst he was living in London. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, with whom he stayed for the following 23 years. He shipped out to South Africa in 1899, and within seven months he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Zilkaatznek which almost ended in disaster for the battalion.

A soldier's life

He returned to England in 1904, when he brought his family to live with him in the army life. His eldest daughter used to tell me wonderful stories of himself and his friends and officers. Most would be dead 14 years later.

After travelling around the world the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment was brought back to England to form part of the 8th Division; the last of the old B.E.F. Divisions to go to France. They were in the trenches by November 1914. Their story from that point is mostly lost, other than in the ghostly paragraphs of diaries and newspapers etc.

On March 13th 1915 Croppy's greatest friend Albert "Dodger" White went missing during the final stages of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. William Sullivan never spoke about him and so it was thought that Albert's resting place would never be found.

It was not until 1919 that Croppy was finally discharged from the army. He had served with distinction, and was aged 52 when he left. He returned to Sheffield, where he died of pneumonia in 1943.

In 1995 my father and I went to France to visit the war graves. Here we found several lone Lincolnshire Regiment soldiers in a Canadian cemetery at Neuville-St-Vaast. One was Albert Alfred White, Serjeant, Lincolnshire Regiment killed 13th March 1915. He was found, though probably several years later. Croppy's eldest daughter would want to have known, but my Great Grandmother died in 1992, three years too early.